Equalling records cannot get any more routine than this. Bolton barely made Manchester City sweat as Roberto Mancini's team racked up their 19th consecutive home win in the league, matching a feat only previously achieved in the Premier League era by their red-clad neighbours, who did likewise last year.

For a long time here it seemed the only thing that could prevent City from opening up a five-point lead over United at the top of the table ahead of the latter's game at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday was the haphazard finishing of Mario Balotelli, who squandered a bevy of chances in a game that City dominated.

The Italian was a risk of being dropped for the game given that newspaper photographs published in the buildup showed him emerging from a Liverpool nightspot at 3am on Friday, but Mancini decided to start the striker pending an investigation. "If it is true, I will be disappointed because it is not correct for a professional," said Mancini of his controversy-magnet of a compatriot.

"I will talk to him and, if it is true, I will fine him the maximum [two weeks wages]," added Mancini before, only half-jokingly, commenting: "Maybe if he had more sleep he would have scored three or four goals today." The manager will meet his player on Sunday . Balotelli has already broken a curfew this season, having been spotted in a Manchester restaurant late at night less than 48 hours before the December loss at Chelsea.

The decision to deploy Balotelli against Bolton was perhaps made easier by the fact Sergio Agüero was deemed unable to start after playing for Argentina in midweek. The influential David Silva was also rested. The last time City started without that pair – against Sunderland on New Year's Day – they lost 1-0, but Bolton never looked capable of inflicting such a setback here.

City threatened to blow away Wanderers from the start. Samir Nasri had a close-range shot blocked in the first minute even before the Balotelli misses began. The Italian was first put through in the third minute by a fine ball from Yaya Touré, who revelled in the advanced role usually assigned to Silva. From an acute angle, Balotelli struck a shot off the post and Nasri fired the follow-up straight at goalkeeper Adam Bogdan from eight yards out.

One minute later, Yaya Touré romped through the Bolton defence to tee up Balotelli again, but this time the striker shot wide from six yards. David Pizarro, the on-loan Chilean making his full debut for the club, put Balotelli through for another opportunity in the 12th minute. The striker had time to slip and get back up before booming a shot over.

A goal was inevitable, but the source of the shot was a shock. Clichy, with one goal in professional football, found the net in the 23rd minute, albeit with the help of a deflection off Gretar Steinsson, which took the Frenchman's strike from 25 yards out beyond the keeper.

City lapsed into complacency after that and allowed Bolton a few shots on goal, the most dangerous coming in the 36th minute, when Joe Hart had to tip Ryo Miyaichi's low effort wide. The hosts reasserted themselves before the break and created several more chances, most of them falling to Balotelli. One shot on the turn from the Italian forced a fine save from Bogdan.

The second half was barely under way when a clever pass from Gareth Barry put Balotelli through for another duel with the goalkeeper. Again Bogdan won, pushing away the striker's tame finish. By contrast, Bogdan got nowhere near a long-range blast by Kolo Touré a moment later and was relieved to see it whizz narrowly wide.

In a bid to kill off the game, Mancini switched to a two-striker formation in the 62nd minute, introducing Edin Dzeko for Pizarro. The ball was almost immediately put in the Bolton net – but by a Bolton player, Darren Pratley almost scoring a spectacular own goal by poking the ball off Dzeko's foot and on to his own crossbar from 20 yards out.

In the 69th minute, Balotelli finally found the net. Adam Johnson dodged between Zat Knight and Sam Ricketts before producing a fine backheeled cross from the byline, whereupon Balotelli showed his goal instinct was intact after all by beating the defenders to the ball and tapping it into the net. Game over.

The title race, however, is far from over and Mancini expects it to become tighter later on Sunday at White Hart Lane. "I think United will win because they are a strong team. If we want to win the championship we need to win the next 10 games."